I ♥ Junk!


This is the first week of the fall semester and I did one of my  favorite activities with my early childhood curriculum class.  Since these students are aspiring early childhood professionals they are aware that most jobs in this field are not going to make them multi-millionnaires.  Since they are aware of this fact I can show them how to be creative (even if they swear they are not) and cheap when it comes to creating wonderful learning materials/activities for children.  It is also a great activity to reinforce the ideas of recycling and repurposing. 



What can I do with a handful of caps?



As an early childhood person I am always looking at alternative purposes for basically everything I see...that empty applesauce cup...a random unused door knob...storage containers (my favorites)...you get the idea.  So for this activity I bring in a bag full of junk!  Each student selects an item and brainstorms all the possible uses of the item in relation to young children.  After a period of time we share the results and everytime I get new ideas...and I have done this activity for more than 10 years and have used every item in the bag with young children.  I actually think that a field trip to a dollar store or garage sale could be a fun useful activity for my student teachers. 

If you are wondering the kinds of things in the bag of junk then click on the "Wordle" gadget on the right hand side of the blog screen.